cannot be denied by him who hath well considered the sentences of St. Thomas and St. Gregory[N8] on the knowledge possessed by spirits concerning those who have been, or are, profitable to them in this world. I see those Garamantes,[N9] those Ethiopians, who live under the shadow of Mount Caucasus, black in colour, because of living just opposite to the full height of the sun's rays--for he, being in the head of Capricorn, shineth on them with wondrous heat, as is shown by his movements from the centre of his eccentric, or, in another way, by the nearness of these people to the torrid zone,--I see the Indians of the greater and the lesser India,[N10] all alike in colour, who call upon me to write of thy gifts of money and of raiment, of the passing of thy ships, and of thy hospitality--which those received who, either to visit the Apostle,[N11] or to see the beauty of the world, came to the ends of our Spain. And those dwellers on the Nile, whose multitudes possess the lands of that ancient and venerable city of Thebes,[N12] they, too, astonish me, for I see them clothed in thy livery, and their bodies, that had never known a covering, now carrying robes of varied colours, while the necks of their women are adorned with jewels of gold and silver in rich workmanship. But what has caused this save the munificence of thine expenses and the labours of thy servitors, set in motion by thy beneficent will, by the which thou hast transported to the ends of the East things created in the West? Yet not even the prayers and the cries of these peoples, though they were many, were of such price as the acclamations I heard from the greatness of the Germans, from the courtesy of the French, from the valour of the English, and from the wisdom of the Italians,[N13] cries that were accompanied by others of divers nations and languages, all renowned by lineage and virtues. Oh thou, say these, who enterest the labyrinth of such great glory, why dost thou busy thyself only with the nations of the East? Speak to us, for we traverse the lands and encircle the circumference of the Earth, and know the Courts of Princes and the houses of great lords. Know that thou wilt not find another that can equal the excellency of the fame of this man, if thou judgest by a just weight of all that pertains to a great prince. With reason mayst thou call him a temple of all the virtues. But how plaintive do I find the people of our nation because I place the testimonies of some other race before theirs. For here in Portugal I meet with great lords, prelates, nobles, widowed ladies, Knights of the Orders of Chivalry, Masters and Doctors of the holy faith, with many graduates of every science, young scholars, companies of esquires, and men of noble breeding, with mechanics and an untold multitude of the people. And some of these shew me towns and castles; others villages and fields; others rich benefices; others great and wealthy farms; others country houses and estates and liberties;